NEWS BY MAIL.

Hokitika Guardian, 8 December 1923, Page 4

NEWS BY MAIL.

1)1 YEARS WITH A BROKEN NECK LONDON. Oct. '?.‘l.

Among the patients at tlie Portsmouth Infirmary is Alfred Davis, who has been living for tlie past sixteen years with a broken neck. He is able to go about in a wheeled chair, and he appears to he quite happy, but requires careful musing. Davis fell from a scaffold and broke liis neck. He lias been an inmate of the ward for incurables at the 'Yestmilister Hospital ever since, and has been transferred to Portsmouth 'vht’e tlie Westminster Hospital undergoes repairs.

PAMPER HD F.XO IXFS. LOXnOX, Oct. &L As it lias liooti found that enginedrivers grow too fond of their ” iron 'iced-.'’ tho railway companies have made a rule that- no driver shall ho in charge of any particular locomotive for such a length of time that he may boeonu? too alTootioiiate towards it! Many drivers, especially those in charge of expresses, have their own pet names for their engines. One who drives a famous express from London to the West of England murmurs coaxinidv to his engine a> he goes rushing along: “Steady now. Polly, steady!” and “Quietly, now, old gild —there’s plenty of time!” A railway official said to a reporter yesterday: Too much affection on the part of a driver for his engine is a menace to efficiency. There have been instances of drivers so molly-coddling their engines that they have lost, time on t run. They nurse them as fond horsemen nurse their animals, and become reluctant to get the most out of them

HAPPY VILLAGE SECRET. LONDON, Oct. 18. Visitors arc going from many parts of the country to see the happiest vivllnge—Preston Hall, Maidstone, Kent. Tt is peopled entirely by disabled ex-Service men. and the feature of its activities is that each man carries on the trade he likes best. Many inquiries were made by the visitors as to the identity of the unknown man, who has been the chief inspiration of the village, and who lias been quietly providing the money for its happy achievement. He is Mr (i. Reeves Smith, the managing director of a big Loudon hotel. Vet another romance hn- been woven round the village, for this weekend the bachelors ot Preston 11 all suddenly found themselves without a cook, and the news reached the village benefactor. AVithin a lew hours a die! from the hotel arrived there, and since then these ex-sollicrs have lost their memories of Army Ia re in the delicacies that tho last four days have brought. SOLID PATRIOTISM. SHEFFIELD. On. 23 Th,, Hoard of Trade returns for September relating to exports ot cutlery demonstrate the increasing rc> banco of British trade oil Empire requirements, and, further, slum the sacrificial manner in which our oversea- Dominions are supporting borne industries to the exclusion of foreign products. For some year- mist sales oi Sheffield cutlery n> foreign markethave I icon declining continuously, until in recent times they amount to a mere bagatelle compared with he dealing- of former days. The total value ol the exports in September amounted to ClDi.OoO. Of this CSO.OOO represented shipments to Australia, New Zealand, Canada, South Africa, nml India, leaving only C 27.1100 worth of goods sent to 'he rest of flic world, including the Irish Free State. Alls!rulin'* colli rihiilioii of Cl 1.01111. or more than a third of the whole, was the largest on record. In ltd;! countries outside the Hri-li-h Empire took more than ball of the exports, and their buying had been shrinking for a coiisirleraole imrioil before that year.

The cutlery trade has long been in a depressed condition. A study ol Ihe above figures makes iL easy to picture what the lot of the makers in Sheffield would have been hut for the lovaliv of the Dominions.

While British merchants and the Riili.-h public are tumbling over one another In ohlain the cheap German goods which have been flooding out home market since the armistice, 'he people of the Southern Dominions have rc!'i-”l In have them at any price. Thev have cheerfully paid twiie a.- mile), for their cutlery as they need have done. Before they buy an article, they demand to know the country of its origin, whereas in Great Britain only the price factor apparently counts, except with an insignificant minority. RESENTED FARTIII NGN. LONDON, (let. 23 Sella- Rost Office official- object to far tilings, according to 1 apt. Robert 11. Spearman, a inn.-ier mariner, who w rite- to say that tw-t office - :u Liverpool ivi'i-e to accept, the official price of |'pi lor a stamped postcard, and if main! I Id. If this were done by an ordinary shopkeeper, lie adds, it would at lea t he railed a press imposition, hut he .-uppn.M". ihe 0.1'.0. call- it a ■•nolle artifice for cm rueting |ai i kings ir un poor per-oii.,’ . At the General I’cmi Office it etas sl'iied yesl onlay that the Liverpool Official- have no light to reln-e to file a larihing change. A pennylarlhing i- the price of a p,i.-ieiird, mi 1 if 1 :<l i- Iwcdeivil ilie do, | mn-t he given. INK AS WORLD'S LIGHT LONDON. (>.; 10. i At the annual dinner lasi night of the Cycle and Motor Trades Benevolent Fund in tlm Con n,a ugh i Rooms, Great t.hn en-sireet. W.C.. Lord Diwar said til- advert i-emeu(s he -a\v emanating from the motor industry wore clever. hold, :: iii! convincin''. 3lm very -I. arte !e ne M, d the pu bine, rower of publicity. Advertising was the c arburet ter u 10, h :<■: rvlerat e. 1 Ilm sales depart men!. Ink. Die h'e-kes! ol thing-, enlightened Ihe world.